Labour Pains

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The People’s History Museum is offering a historical context to the current turbulence within the Labour Party, with a new intervention that examines past and present tensions, through artefacts from the museum’s collection and Labour Party archives. It includes Nye Bevan’s resignation letter from 1951, which is on display for the first time ever.

In 2015 Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party, with a huge majority. A prominent member of Labour’s left, Corbyn’s leadership appears to have marked a shift in the Labour Party’s direction. Current internal differences within the Labour Party appear so pronounced that the long term survival of the party has been questioned. However, the exhibition demonstrates tensions of this sort have been a recurring theme since at least the 1930s.

Dr Chris Burgess, Curator at the People’s History Museum said: ‘When the University of Sheffield approached the museum to develop a project on historic internal divisions within the Labour Party, we said yes. Such work has never been more important. PHM is a museum as much about the present as it is about the past. We want visitors to understand the history that has led up to the current divisions within the Labour Party.’

A collaboration with the Department of History at the The University of Sheffield, Labour Pains is a rapid exhibition response to a rapidly changing situation. Following the exhibition, materials will form the basis of a digital resource, which will include original research and discussion pieces from leading political commentators, policy makers and historians. If you are interested in the project please contact Dr Thomas Dowling: thomas.dowling@sheffield.ac.uk.